NJ Transit, unions preparing for possible March strike that would shut down train service

By CHRISTOPHER MAAG

STAFF WRITER |

The Record

Both NJ Transit and its unions are preparing for a train shutdown on March 13 that would cripple the region’s transportation network, the sides confirmed on Friday. Threat of a strike by the unions or a lockout by NJ Transit is the latest escalation in a five-year dispute that leaves the two sides far apart on workers’ pay and health insurance benefits.

AP FILE PHOTO

An NJ Transit train arrives at Newark Penn Station.

“Prepare yourself economically,” the New Jersey Transit Rail Coalition told its 4,200 members in a newsletter issued Friday. “At 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, March 13, every union on New Jersey Transit will strike if no agreement is reached.”

“NJ Transit is actively involved in developing a robust alternative service plan in the event the unions call a strike,” said Dennis Martin, NJ Transit’s interim executive director. “We are working with our regional partners, including NJDOT, to provide as much service as possible to our customers.”

A shutdown would make it incredibly difficult for people in New Jersey and New York City to travel and get to work, said David Peter Alan, chairman of the Lackawanna Coalition, a transit advocacy group.

“I think it’s very likely” that a strike will happen, Alan said. “It would be a disaster.”

The unions want an 18.4 percent pay raise over six and a half years; NJ Transit has offered a 10.9 percent raise over seven years, according to the coalition. NJ Transit has declined to discuss the negotiation terms. Both plans would include retroactive pay increases since 2011, when the current contract came up for renegotiation.

But the biggest difference concerns medical benefits. Employees would pay an average of $460 a month for insurance under NJ Transit’s proposal, the coalition said. Some workers would pay as much as $642 a month, and costs could rise from there because the premiums are not capped, according to the unions. The coalition’s counter-offer would increase workers’ health insurance contributions to 2.5 percent of every employee’s earnings, not including overtime.

“Half our membership would actually lose money the day we sign the agreement,” said Stephen Burkert, general chairman of the United Transportation Union Local 60, one of the member unions. “We have a responsibility to our membership not to agree to a contract that cuts pay for half of them.”

At the federal level, the unions already have prevailed twice in a row. Following a process laid out by the Federal Railway Act of 1926, President Obama has established two different Presidential Emergency Boards to try and bring NJ Transit and the unions together. After comparing NJ Transit’s wages to other comparable commuter railroads and considering the rising cost of living in New Jersey, both boards agreed the unions’ offers were more reasonable.

But the federal government does not yet have the power to impose a settlement, said Frank N. Wilner, a contributing editor for Railway Age magazine. The two sides have until March 12 to negotiate. After that the unions are allowed to strike, or NJ Transit may lock workers out of its rail properties. Only then can Congress pass legislation to end a shutdown and impose a new contract.

NJ Transit, unions preparing for possible March strike that would shut down train service

Both NJ Transit and its unions are preparing for a train shutdown on March 13 that would cripple the region’s transportation network, the sides confirmed on Friday. Threat of a strike by the unions or a lockout by NJ Transit is the latest escalation in a five-year dispute that leaves the two sides far apart on workers’ pay and health insurance benefits.

“Prepare yourself economically,” the New Jersey Transit Rail Coalition told its 4,200 members in a newsletter issued Friday. “At 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, March 13, every union on New Jersey Transit will strike if no agreement is reached.”

“NJ Transit is actively involved in developing a robust alternative service plan in the event the unions call a strike,” said Dennis Martin, NJ Transit’s interim executive director. “We are working with our regional partners, including NJDOT, to provide as much service as possible to our customers.”

A shutdown would make it incredibly difficult for people in New Jersey and New York City to travel and get to work, said David Peter Alan, chairman of the Lackawanna Coalition, a transit advocacy group.

“I think it’s very likely” that a strike will happen, Alan said. “It would be a disaster.”

The unions want an 18.4 percent pay raise over six and a half years; NJ Transit has offered a 10.9 percent raise over seven years, according to the coalition. NJ Transit has declined to discuss the negotiation terms. Both plans would include retroactive pay increases since 2011, when the current contract came up for renegotiation.

But the biggest difference concerns medical benefits. Employees would pay an average of $460 a month for insurance under NJ Transit’s proposal, the coalition said. Some workers would pay as much as $642 a month, and costs could rise from there because the premiums are not capped, according to the unions. The coalition’s counter-offer would increase workers’ health insurance contributions to 2.5 percent of every employee’s earnings, not including overtime.

“Half our membership would actually lose money the day we sign the agreement,” said Stephen Burkert, general chairman of the United Transportation Union Local 60, one of the member unions. “We have a responsibility to our membership not to agree to a contract that cuts pay for half of them.”

At the federal level, the unions already have prevailed twice in a row. Following a process laid out by the Federal Railway Act of 1926, President Obama has established two different Presidential Emergency Boards to try and bring NJ Transit and the unions together. After comparing NJ Transit’s wages to other comparable commuter railroads and considering the rising cost of living in New Jersey, both boards agreed the unions’ offers were more reasonable.

But the federal government does not yet have the power to impose a settlement, said Frank N. Wilner, a contributing editor for Railway Age magazine. The two sides have until March 12 to negotiate. After that the unions are allowed to strike, or NJ Transit may lock workers out of its rail properties. Only then can Congress pass legislation to end a shutdown and impose a new contract.